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THE 17TH OF OCJOBER. 409 his firmness was subjected, he found himself com- cha r. • Xll I polled to leave undischarged one of the gravest L. of the duties which attach upon a commander in war - time. The duty I speak of as attaching upon a commander is that of protecting the force he commands from the impatience of the Govern- ment at home, from the impatience of the people, from the pressure of colleagues and allies, but, above all, from its own healthy eagerness for action, and continuing so to protect it until his own judgment tells him that the moment for striking has come. It is for this amongst other reasons that a commander with a warlike reputa- tion already established is of so much more worth than another of equal ability who is wanting in that condition. The adviser who comes forward in dijB&cult conjunctures to lay it down that ' something must be done' is as dangerous in the business of war as in any other public con- cerns. Nor let it be thought that this extension of Lord Melbourne's precept to M'arlike councils would tend to exclude bold resolves. History is replate with proof that the boldest captains have ever been those who, far from striking at random, and with half-formed notions of what they might do, have always had clear conceptions of their objects, and of the way in which they meant to succeed. No sane commander could well be more venturesome than Cochrane, but he was a man who could forecast his way to the havoc he was preparing with a clearness of mental vision which might almost be called Satanic.